Irish Immigration Irish Immigration Lesson Plan Central Historical Question: Were the Irish considered ‘white’ in the 19 th century? Materials: • Irish immigration Documents A-D • Irish immigration Guiding Questions • Irish immigration Graphic Organizer NOTE: The main goal of this lesson is for students to recognize that racial categories have changed over time. Students should discover that the Irish were not considered white for most of the 19 th century. At the end of the lesson (not before!) you may want to explain that the Irish, in fact, occupied a place of racial ambiguity in America for most of the 19 th century. Plan of Instruction: 1. Introduction: Brief lecture on Irish immigration: o Long history of oppression by the British. o Arrived in the U.S. in the 1840s because of the potato famine. o Mostly settled in cities, worked in factories. o Extremely poor. o Anti-Irish sentiment was really high for a number of reasons: Irish were poor and slums developed in cities; people blamed the Irish for crime, disease, prostitution, alcohol abuse, etc. Irish were Catholic; most Americans were Protestant and thought Catholics could not be trusted because they would be more loyal to the Pope than to the U.S. government (to this day, U.S. has only had one Catholic president). o “Know-Nothing” Party was strongly anti-Irish and anti-immigrant. 2. Introduce activity: In groups of 4, you will receive 4 pieces of evidence. Answer the questions about each piece of evidence and then decide, as a group: Were the Irish considered white in 19 th century America? 3. Discussion: • Were the Irish considered white in the 19 th century? • What evidence supports the argument that they were considered white? What evidence supports the argument that they were not considered white? • What does it mean to be white?
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Irish Immigration
Irish Immigration Lesson Plan
Central Historical Question: Were the Irish considered ‘white’ in the 19th century?
Materials:
• Irish immigration Documents A-D • Irish immigration Guiding Questions • Irish immigration Graphic Organizer
NOTE: The main goal of this lesson is for students to recognize that racial categories have changed over time. Students should discover that the Irish were not considered white for most of the 19th century. At the end of the lesson (not before!) you may want to explain that the Irish, in fact, occupied a place of racial ambiguity in America for most of the 19th century. Plan of Instruction: 1. Introduction: Brief lecture on Irish immigration:
o Long history of oppression by the British. o Arrived in the U.S. in the 1840s because of the potato famine. o Mostly settled in cities, worked in factories. o Extremely poor. o Anti-Irish sentiment was really high for a number of reasons:
Irish were poor and slums developed in cities; people blamed the Irish for crime, disease, prostitution, alcohol abuse, etc.
Irish were Catholic; most Americans were Protestant and thought Catholics could not be trusted because they would be more loyal to the Pope than to the U.S. government (to this day, U.S. has only had one Catholic president).
o “Know-Nothing” Party was strongly anti-Irish and anti-immigrant. 2. Introduce activity: In groups of 4, you will receive 4 pieces of evidence.
Answer the questions about each piece of evidence and then decide, as a group:
Were the Irish considered white in 19th century America?
3. Discussion:
• Were the Irish considered white in the 19th century? • What evidence supports the argument that they were considered white?
What evidence supports the argument that they were not considered white?
• What does it mean to be white?
Irish Immigration
Citations: Thomas Nast, Cartoon, Harper’s Weekly, December 7, 1876. “Irish Declaration of Independence,” Puck, May 9, 1883. http://www.hsp.org/default.aspx?id=394 The Know-Nothing and American Crusader, July 29, 1854. http://www.hsp.org/default.aspx?id=446. David R. Roediger, Wages of Whiteness, 1991, p. 146. http://books.google.com/books?id=PwyMmV1_0kMC
© Copyright 2009, Avishag Reisman and Bradley Fogo.
Irish Immigration
Document A: Thomas Nast Cartoon, 1876
Irish Immigration
Document B: Excerpt from a ‘Know-Nothing’ Newspaper, 1854
THINGS WHICH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND ALL TRUE ROMAN CATHOLICS HATE Providence, July 22, 1854 1. They HATE our Republic, and are trying to overthrow it. 2. They HATE our Flag, and they grossly insulting it. 3. They HATE the liberty of the Press. 4. They HATE the liberty of speech. 5. They HATE our Public School system. 6. They HATE the Bible, and would blot it out of existence if they could! 7. They HATE Protestants, and are sworn to exterminate them from our country and the earth. 8. They HATE all rulers that do not swear allegiance to the Pope of Rome. 9. They HATE to be ruled by Americans, and say 'WE WILL NOT BE RULED BY THEM!' 10. They HATE to support their own paupers and they are left to be supported by the tax paying Americans. 11. They HATE, above all, the 'Know-Nothings,' who are determined to rid this country from their cursed power. —UNCLE SAM
Irish Immigration
Document C: Historian account “Irish-Americans were sometimes used as substitutes for slaves in the South. Gangs of Irish immigrants worked ditching and draining plantations, building levees and sometimes clearing land because of the danger of death to valuable slave property (and, as one account put it, to mules) in such work. One Southerner explained the use of Irish labor as follows: ‘n-----s are worth too much to be risked here; if the Paddies (Irish) are knocked overboard. . . nobody loses anything.’ “Irish youths were likely to be indentured servants from the early 1800s through the Civil War. In that position they were sometimes called ‘Irish slaves’ and more frequently ‘bound boys.’ In New York City, Irish women made up the largest group of prostitutes, or as they were sometimes called in the 1850s, ‘white slaves.’” Source: From David R. Roediger, Wages of Whiteness, 1991, p. 146.
Document D: Cartoon in a Newspaper, 1883
Irish Immigration
Guiding Questions Name________________ Document A 1. (Close Reading) The man in the “white” scale is supposed to be Irish. What is the
message of this cartoon? 2. (Sourcing) Thomas Nast, the cartoonist, drew for Harper’s Weekly. Based on this
cartoon, what sort of people do you think read Harper’s Weekly? Document B 1. (Close reading) Why did the ‘Know-Nothings’ hate the Catholics so much? List at least
four reasons. 2. (Close reading) According to the ‘Know-Nothings’ could the Irish ever be true
Americans? Why or why not? Document C 1. (Contextualization) Why were Irish used for difficult labor in the South? 2. (Close reading) Based on this document, do you think the Irish were treated like
slaves?
Document D 1. (Close reading) The angry woman in the cartoon is supposed to be Irish. Describe
what she looks like and how she’s acting. 2. (Contextualization) Based on this cartoon, what job do you think many Irish women
had in the 1880s? What were some stereotypes about Irish women?
Irish Immigration
Were the Irish considered white in 19th century America?
Evidence that the Irish were
considered white Evidence that the Irish were NOT
considered white
Final conclusion: Were the Irish considered white in 19th century America? Please explain your answer using the documents and cartoons above.
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